Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-edu (46 mails)

[Richard Smedley <richard.smedley03@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2006-04-13 at 02:59 +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> > Apparently LXF readers want to know the buying practices of
> > UK educational institutions; their patterns of OS and software 
> 
> I'd be interested to know where and how such ""information"" is sourced and
> collated, as I fail to believe that to be their primary interest.

Sorry - that was subtle sarcasm at the person who commissioned the
article. As he isn't subscribed to the list, perhaps I should have 
begun the sentence "my commission demands that I write about...."

As to what LXF readers want to read about, I imagine that this list
contains a fair cross section of Linux SomethingOrOther readers,
though admittedly with far more knowledge of FOSS in education ;-)

Reader interests in FOSS use in particular industries tend to be
1. technical (geek)
2. political - why choose Free vs proprietary
3. practical - what worked and what didn't

I'm sure the magazines are interested in hearing more about
what readers _actually_ want - at least in theory ;)

>  Campus-wide policy is held such that all staff PCs and student
> PCs will run a windows OS, because external examiner guidelines as well as
> lecturer's preferences are to use MS-products --- for no other reason that
> that's what they were "trained" and used to using.

At least, if that was the reason, they can be re-trained :-/

> But the Faculty of Technology is different in that they do to an extent
[snip]
> etc.  But it is still a very MS-dominant University.

Well, many are - but by no means all. And all seem to have some FOSS.
In fact I bet Southampton are running /some/ Free Software (eg Exim)
somewhere.

>From speaking to OSS-Watch, it seems that there's a lot to
feel reasonably cheerful about :)
And as Ian Lynch says elsewhere in this thread, change is a slow
process, but it is happening. :-)

> I think the Faculty of Technology is releasing two things:
> 
> 1.  That Linux is a consideration for prospective students joining the
> University.
> 
> 2.  The costs of its use within education as a teaching aid, etc., is a
> serious viable alternative.

Awareness of FOSS is spreading even to the trailing edge ;-)

> > I'm also interested in what needs to be done to change things?
> 
> Slapping the government around with a wet fish ought to do it.  There's not a
> lot you _can_ do to change things.   What is it you're wanting to change,
> exactly?  People don't _like_ change, Richard.  They react badly to it; treat
> it with disdain and contempt.  Seemingly switching over to Linux, albeit
> gradual or otherwise is almost always going to annoy people, such that
> they'll see it as a ramned-down-your-throat alternative to Microsoft.

People don't like change for change's sake - the process must
be managed properly. In my day job (in the voluntary sector)
training is the key part of our successful implementations :-)

> Whilst having one or two schools doing 'interesting' things is a nice thing
> to do -- do you really think that's going to change much?  Sure, there's the
> argument of:  If you don't try, you'll never know, etc., etc.  But ultimately
> there needs to be more ralling at the Council level (if you're talking about
> compulsory education) or God only knows where for higher education.

Indeed - although BECTa have yet to reply to m questions,
and BECTa's website is lamentable when it comes to mentioning
FOSS solutions, it seems that BECTa are actually quite taken 
with FOSS - I hope we see some practical fall-out from
this interest soon, but I won't hold my breath, just in
case ;-)

Thank you for all of your input, Thomas. Nice to see the 
traffic on this list, too :)

  -Richard